Greater New Orleans

Gregory McRae, a former New Orleans police officer shown in this 2011 photo, lost his bid Monday (June 2, 2014) for a new trial in the burning of Henry Glover, an Algiers resident shot by a different officer after Hurricane Katrina. Glover's charred remains were found in a car abandoned on the Algiers levee months after the storm.
(NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archives)

Federal prosecutors argued for a stiff sentence for the New Orleans Police officer convicted of burning the body of Henry Glover, an act they said allowed other officers to escape justice in the Algiers man's post-Hurricane Katrina shooting death.

In court documents filed Friday, prosecutors said that former New Orleans police officer Gregory McRae allowed other NOPD officers to avoid prosecution in Glover's Sept. 2, 2005 death and the alleged coverup that followed.

McRae, who has argued that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress and did not know Glover had been shot by a police officer when he set fire to a car holding the Algiers man's body, destroyed evidence that might have led to convictions of his fellow officers, prosecutors wrote.

McRae is the only officer among the five charged in connection with Glover's death and the coverup to face prison time, and the veteran officer has asked a judge to reduce the 17-year sentence he received following his trial nearly two years ago. The other officers either were acquitted at trial or had charges against them dropped.

David Warren was convicted of civil rights abuses for shooting Glover, but an appeals court granted him a new trial and he was acquitted by a second jury that believed he was acting in self-defense.

"McRae argues that he should receive a reduced sentence because he is the only officer found guilty of involvement in the Glover case," prosecutors wrote in a memorandum to U.S. District Judge Lance Africk, opposing McRae's request for leinency.

"McRae's obstructive conduct was extremely effective in undermining thegovernment's investigation into Warren's conduct. Because of McRae's conduct, some of the most vital evidence that could have established Warren's guilt was unavailable."